Consensus-based guidelines for Video EEG monitoring in the pre-surgical evaluation of children with epilepsy in the UK

Ronit M. Pressler, Stefano Seri, Nick Kane, Tim Martland, Sushma Goyal, Anand Iyer, Elliott Warren, Lesley Notghi, Peter Bill, Rachel Thornton, Richard Appleton, Sarah Doyle, Sarah Rushton, Alan Worley, Stewart G. Boyd,

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

PURPOSE: Paediatric Epilepsy surgery in the UK has recently been centralised in order to improve expertise and quality of service available to children. Video EEG monitoring or telemetry is a highly specialised and a crucial component of the pre-surgical evaluation. Although many Epilepsy Monitoring Units work to certain standards, there is no national or international guideline for paediatric video telemetry.

METHODS: Due to lack of evidence we used a modified Delphi process utilizing the clinical and academic expertise of the clinical neurophysiology sub-specialty group of Children's Epilepsy Surgical Service (CESS) centres in England and Wales. This process consisted of the following stages I: Identification of the consensus working group, II: Identification of key areas for guidelines, III: Consensus practice points and IV: Final review. Statements that gained consensus (median score of either 4 or 5 using a five-point Likerttype scale) were included in the guideline.

RESULTS: Two rounds of feedback and amendments were undertaken. The consensus guidelines includes the following topics: referral pathways, neurophysiological equipment standards, standards of recording techniques, with specific emphasis on safety of video EEG monitoring both with and without drug withdrawal, a protocol for testing patient's behaviours, data storage and guidelines for writing factual reports and conclusions. All statements developed received a median score of 5 and were adopted by the group.

CONCLUSION: Using a modified Delphi process we were able to develop universally-accepted video EEG guidelines for the UK CESS. Although these recommendations have been specifically developed for the pre-surgical evaluation of children with epilepsy, it is assumed that most components are transferable to any paediatric video EEG monitoring setting.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6-11
Number of pages6
JournalSeizure
Volume50
Early online date12 May 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2017

Keywords

  • Journal Article

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